Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Marauder Edition)
by DarkLordWill
Summary: Instead of Sirius running off to find Pettigrew, what if he took Harry? What if Harry's years were more like his parents? Based on the first book itself.
1. Chapter 1

Apologies for not updating _The Mage Of Kingsman_ , my health has taken a flip and a story like that is not something im interested in at the moment, especially something where its all guns a blazing and all that.

So here's the first chapter for a redo of my first Fic under _DarkLordWill_ , I hope you enjoy it, its a bit lighter.

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 **Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone (Marauder edition)**

Chapter One – _THE BOY WHO LIVED IN THE ARMS OF A CRIMINAL_

Mr. Black, of number twenty-eight, Knightbridge Avenue, was, at the moment, not very happy. In fact, one might go as far as saying, he was distraught. Staring down at his best friend and brother in all but blood, Mr. Black howled in agony. Before the pain of encountering his now late friend, Mr. Black was the first person you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because it was just in his nature.

Mr. Black was a kind of "police officer", and he would say that he was a very good "police officer", his colleagues would agree, to an extent. He was a slender man, with high cheekbones, long black hair and a trimmed beard. He knew it himself, that he was good looking, he would often use his looks and charm to talk to any lonely women he would encounter at a bar he may go to. Mr. Black had a one-year-old Godson called Harry and in his opinion no one else had a better Godchild.

Getting back to the present, Mr. Black who had briefly recovered from the ache of seeing his friend laying on the floor at the top of the stairs, slowly opened a door leading into a nursery, his watery eyes fell on the body of a red headed young woman whose own eyes were open and vacant of life. Again, a surge of grief ripped through him, he fell to his knees and roared in anger and sadness. He held onto the lifeless woman's hand, his whole world had been torn apart when he stepped foot into this house.

He stopped shaking in grief when he heard a faint sound coming from the cot just in front of him, peering into it he saw a black haired boy wrapped slightly in a blanket, green teary eyes looking up at him, a crimson lightning-bolt shaped cut prominent on his forehead. His Godson Harry, was alive. He smiled, a small flame seemed to ignite in Mr. Black saddened heart, the boy grinned and waved his hands in the air wanting to be picked up. Not wanting to upset the lad, Mr. Black bent down and picked the little boy up and cradled him in his arms, he looked down, felt himself smiling.

"Hello Pup" Mr. Black whispered, Harry giggled, noticing the blood coming from the cut on his Godson's forehead he used his sleeve to wipe it away.

Snapping out of the brief happiness, Mr. Black looked around at the Nursery, feeling his emotions dropping again, he checked the lad once over for anymore injuries before exiting the room and the house, he said a short farewell to his best friends and entered the cool November night. Looking around he noticed the locals starting to gather at a distance, shaking his head he walked over to the motorbike on the road, swinging his leg over he checked that Harry was secure in his arm, his other hand on the bike. Taking one last deep breath, he looked up at the cottage, the breath was released in a shudder.

Before he started the engine a huge man approached him, he wore a thick leather coat with many pockets, his face was mostly covered in hair but the skin that was shown was ashen.

"They're gone Hagrid, except little Harry here" Mr. Black whispered, Hagrid seemed to go paler at his words but nodded. Tears formed at the edges of his eyes.

"P-P-Professor D-Dumbledore," Hagrid stammered "said t-tha' I should take the lad t' h-him if he was alive, he s-said tha' the a-alarms connected to the house went off"

"I can't do that Hagrid, I'm his Godfather" Mr. Black replied shaking his head whilst stroking little Harry's hair. Hagrid looked at the boy in Mr. Blacks arm, he started to shake and a low moan came from his lips within his beard.

"WHY THEM?! WHY JAMES AND LILY, THEY DI'N'T DO NOTHIN' WRONG?!" Hagrid wailed, Mr. Black jumped at the sudden shouting of the big man next to him and Harry opened his eyes in fright before crying.

"HAGRID! Shush! I just got the Pup to sleep!"

"Sorry, Professor Dumbledore said I had to though!" Hagrid said quite seriously, Mr. Black stared at his Godson then up at the large man. They both looked around at the sound of sirens in the distance, Mr. Black thought for a second before turning back to Hagrid.

"Hagrid, where did Dumbledore ask you to bring little Harry if anything was to happen?" he asked, Hagrid's face looked thoughtful for a second before he stuffed his hand into one of his many pockets. Pulling out a small piece of parchment he showed Mr. Black.

"Number Four Privet Drive, Surrey?" Mr. Black read allowed in confusion, then realisation "No! Not to Lily's sister, Petunia?! He'll despise the boy, anything to do with magic she hates with a passion, along with that big no-necked husband of hers…Vernon!" Mr. Black pulled the boy closer to his chest in protection.

"Sirius, I has to, Profes-"

"I'll take him to Dumbledore and talk to him! Try and put some sense into him" Sirius turned the engine on and the motorbike shook beneath him, a thought crossed his mind.

'But what about me? I'm surprised Hagrid hasn't attacked me yet….Peter! That little traitor' Sirius swore under his breath. Revving the engine, he looked up at Hagrid once more.

"Don't worry Hagrid, I'll keep the boy safe, he's with his Godfather and I'd give my life for him" Hagrid nodded and stepped back, Sirius smiled weakly once more at the boy before taking the break off and driving off into the night.

Hagrid stood still for a few seconds before he heard a faint popping sound behind, turning he saw a black clad man, his face pale, his hair covering his face slightly, he recognised him as the new Professor and old student at the school. Approaching the man, Hagrid laid a dustbin lid sized hand on the man's shoulder, he jumped slightly before looking up at Hagrid.

"James and Lily, are both...gone, Professor Snape" Hagrid said in sadness, the man looked sharply up at the cottage.

"I'm so sorry Lily…" he whispered to himself.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sirius Black looked down at the sleeping babe tucked in his arm, he had fallen asleep over Bristol and they were getting closer to their destination, looking down he spotted a street without any lights on, peering around the surrounding area he realised nowhere else was in darkness.

"This has to be it" he steered the motorbike around in the air to circle the street, before aiming the bike at the road like a landing strip. Checking the precious cargo in his arm was safe, he looked up and spotted two figures standing in the middle of the street watching him land. Holding Harry, slightly more forecfully, the bike shook hard as his landed and came to a stop, the two figures stared at him.

Pulling his goggles up onto his forehead he looked at the two people in front of him, both had long sticks out and both looked extremely angry. The person on the left was a severe-looking woman, who had rectangle shaped glasses and her hair pulled into a tight bun, she wore a dark green cloak, the man on the right had bright blue eyes, half-moon shaped glasses perched on a very long nose, a very long white beard and he was wearing some very garish coloured robes.

If one was to look out one of the house windows at this very moment, a resident of Privet Drive would find these three people very strange and weird, not the sort of people they wanted around this place, messing up the normalness of the street.

Throwing his leg over the motorcycle, Sirius held Harry cradled in one arm and raised his other in surrender, a normal person would scoff at being pointed at by two people with sticks, but these weren't just any old sticks found on the ground. Sirius thought quickly.

"Now, I know what both of you are thinking" He said, his eyes bouncing from one person to another.

"I'm sure you do Black" The woman said with a Scottish accent, Sirius gulped. Looking at the man, Sirius went paler, he hadn't been looked at like that for a long time, the last time was his fifth year at school and he hoped he wasn't going to be given that look again.

"I didn't do it…I mean…I wasn't the Secret Keeper!" Sirius said quickly, he wished he had thought of something better than that. The man on the right raised an eyebrow.

"And why, should we believe that?" The woman nodded in agreement with the man.

"Because…. because I wouldn't have come to you if I was! Think about it Professor, why would I, the traitor of my best friends come to you straight away? I'd be an idiot to do that…." Sirius trailed off, he gave the old man a pleading looking, he felt Harry squirm so he shifted his arm slightly for the boy's comfort.

"I have Harry?" he said hoping that this would calm the two Professors in front of him. The woman gasped and rushed forward and looked at the little boy in his arm.

"Oh Merlin" She whispered, she looked up from the boy to the man. "Albus, Harry, Cut"

Albus Dumbledore walked slowly up to Sirius Black and Minerva McGonagall, his long-time colleague and friend. Looking down into the arm of Sirius, he saw a small boy with black tuff of hair, he was fast asleep, on his forehead however was a deep red cut, in the shape of a lightning-bolt.

"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot, that cut is deep enough to leave a scar which will stay with him forever. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well – give him here, Sirius – we'd bett-"

"No" Sirius interrupted, Professor Dumbledore looked surprised, he is rarely interrupted.

"…and why not?" Sirius noticed Professor McGonagall reach for her wand again. 'Ah'

"He's not staying with Petunia, Hagrid told me where you want to hide him, I take it he told you what had happened after I left, how the house was in ruins and Voldemort was gone, J-James and Lily both dead" he pushed the grief down again.

"He did"

"And you had already put a plan in place just in case anything was to happen, however I'm going to have to disagree with you on the plan, of all the people you could choose, why Lily's sister? Petunia wouldn't love the boy, wouldn't care for him?" Sirius gasped. Professor McGonagall nodded, he heard a whispered 'that's what I said, but no…' from his old teacher.

"It's the only family he has left…" Professor Dumbledore said like it was the ending answer to everything.

"I don't care if she was the last human on Earth, she is not having my Godson!" Sirius said sharply, he couldn't believe that he, a twenty-one-year-old was having an argument with an old man in the middle of the night holding a baby. Said baby gurgled and Sirius smiled. Looking back up at his old Headmaster, Sirius waited for the disappointed reply.

But he didn't get one.

"Then who would look after him?"

"Me" Professor McGonagall spluttered on air at his reply, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow again.

"You? My dear boy, at the moment in the eyes of law, you are a wanted criminal, just because you came here with the boy doesn't mean you are as the Muggles would say 'off the hook'" Dumbledore explained, Sirius fidgeted.

"Well then, take me to the Aurors, I want a trial, a proper trial as well, Ive seen how the Death Eaters get a trial, if you can call it a trial…" Sirius mumbled, both he and Professor McGonagall waited for Dumbledore's reply.

"Okay" Sirius looked at the Professor in surprise and it seemed McGonagall was shocked by his answer.

"Really?!" he asked.

"Yes, if you are innocent you may raise the boy, he is after all your Godson, if you are guilty however…well, you know what will happen." Sirius eagerly nodded at his reply

"Don't worry Professor, for once I'm going to be responsible…. for not being the responsible one…respons-"

"Yes Black, we get what you mean" Professor McGonagall said exasperated, Sirius grinned. Little Harry had fallen asleep again.

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I hope you understand what this story will be like.

Hope you enjoyed it :)


	2. Chapter 2

Have another :)

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Chapter two – _THE VANISHING GLASS AND A HAPPY CONSTRICTOR_

Nearly ten years had passed since Sirius Black had taken Harry from the ruin of his old home in Godric's Hollow, this had led to many changes for both of their lives. Sirius got the trial he needed to clear his name, after getting a good lawyer and saying the word "Veritaserum" out loud to the court, he was quickly cleared of all charges and became Harry's legal magical and Muggle guardian.

It was after this time that Sirius pleaded for a second date with a woman he had fancied quite a bit in school, she had left when he was in sixth year, one Amelia Bones, who was at the time, a high ranking Auror. After falling to his knees and making quite a scene in the middle of the Ministry of Magic Atrium, she caved. Now, ten years on, they were happily married, raising both Harry and Amelia's niece, Susan Bones as their own.

Susan's parent's had unfortunately been killed by Death Eaters a few weeks before that fateful Halloween night. However, like any child being brought up together, Harry and Susan quickly accepted each other as brother and sister. Amelia and Sirius were both pleased and worn out at times because of this, "sibling rivalry" was prominent at times and Harry was now into double figures of wins against his sister.

Ten years ago, Sirius had lived in a nice apartment in London with his Godson, however after marrying Amelia and gaining two new bodies, the apartment just didn't fit. Instead they bought a reasonably large detached house in the suburbs of London, they couldn't of course use Magic outside in the fear of a Muggle seeing them, however with the correct wards around the house they could use as much magic within, unless they had Muggle friends round of course.

The sun rose onto the quiet but friendly street of Rose Drive, each house having its own personality, it reflected off the silver shapes of number seven on the Blacks' front door; it bathed the living-room with a yellowish glow. Shelves of the room were lined with magical and non-magical pictures of a happy family, the two children aging as shown throughout the house. From two small babies giggling at the camera, to two beaming six-year-olds missing baby teeth, some of Harry flying his training broom, some of Susan using a wand and vice versa. The house was alive with happiness.

Harry Potter was comfortably unaware of the impending shock of a wake-up call he would suddenly get; Susan had crept into his room with a bucket of cold water, she smothered a giggle before slowly tiptoeing to the side of Harry's bed.

Harry's room was like his sisters, it wasn't overly big, but it was what was in it that made the room quite unique to a boy like Harry; his bed against the wall with a bookshelf opposite full of magical and non-magical novels and other texts filled it, with various bits and bobs in front of them such as a broken Sneakoscope, figurines and chocolate frog cards. Next to his bookshelf was a large wardrobe that took up most of the room, laying against the corner wall was his trusty Comet 260 Broomstick with polishing box next to it. His wall was lined with Quidditch stars of Puddlemere United, and Vratsa Vultures posters, a typical boys room.

Taking a deep breath and preparing herself to run, she tipped the bucket of ice cold water onto Harry who leapt up and screamed. Susan ran, maniacally laughing as she disappeared through his door.

"Time to wake up! We are going to the zoo today!" Susan called as she descended the stairs, skipping down the hallway and entering the kitchen. She hummed as she put the bucket back under the kitchen sink, before sitting down and grabbing a bowl and cereal. Sirius lowered the Daily Prophet and raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Don't you think that was a bit excessive?" Sirius asked smiling slightly, Susan shook her head and scooped up some more hoops. She swallowed and looked at her Uncle.

"That was for the prank he did on me last week!" she explained, Sirius made an 'O' shape with his face before looking back at the Prophet.

"…which prank? From what I remember, he did several…" Sirius said still looking at the newspaper, there was silence for a few seconds before he looked back up to the red headed ten-year-old who now looked thoughtful.

The front door opened and a bark came from the hallway, a large Irish Wolfhound wondered into the kitchen and sat next to Sirius who started stroking the dogs head absentmindedly. Amelia Bones then entered the kitchen and kissed Sirius on the cheek before pouring herself some coffee and sitting opposite Susan.

"…the green clothes prank, that one" Susan finally said replying to Sirius, who nodded then looked at his wife.

"Susan woke Harry up" he said with a straight face, Amelia looked pained at this and nibbled on some toast.

"I take it he's not happy at the moment then" As if on cue, large foot falls on the stairs came accompanied by grumblings entered the kitchen. Several seconds later a slightly damp ten-year-old Harry Potter trudged into the kitchen, his hair wild and shiny from the water, wearing a woollen blue dressing gown, he looked at Sirius who grinned at him still stroking the dog's head. Harry started mumbling again and pulled the chair opposite Sirius out and threw himself into it with a huff. He scowled at Susan who wore an innocent look and carried on eating her cereal.

"Nice sleep dear?" Amelia asked, she had to break the silence somehow. Harry glared at the cereal bowl in front of him.

"It was going wonderfully, until Freckle Face over here decided to ruin it…" Harry said, Susan made a loud 'oi' at being called Freckle Face.

"Harry" Amelia scolded, Harry glared at his sister again who stuck her tongue out at him, Sirius started chuckling.

"Brought it on yourself Pup, all those pranks, you didn't really think Susan wouldn't try something did you?" Sirius asked picking up his tea and smirking into the mug.

"I guess" Harry mumbled, Amelia looked at Sirius to get a different conversation going but he just shrugged his shoulders and dropped some Bacon to the Wolfhound who ate it in a single bite.

"Nice tasty Bacon for you Orion" Sirius whispered, Amelia rolled her eyes.

"Well today, as we planned we are going to the Zoo, which should be fun!" Susan beamed at her aunt, Harry nodded and took another mouthful of Choco-puffs. Amelia stared at Harry, to him, she was his aunt, but like Susan who was her niece, she treated him like her own child as well.

"Harry, I'll give you this warning now as I'm sure Sirius will conveniently forget about telling you this..." Sirius looked like a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar "you are not to speak to the snakes" Harry looked up at his aunt and frowned.

"Rats…" he mumbled

"No, snakes, not rats, you idiot" Susan said mockingly, Harry glared at his sister before flicking a wet Choco-puff off his spoon that landed on her forehead. Susan yelled and Harry chuckled, Sirius smirked into his mug of tea, Amelia groaned into her hands and Orion barked happily.

XxxxxxxxxxX

The drive to the zoo was blissfully quite, which Amelia was pleased about greatly, there was the odd sound of 'get to your side of the car' and 'I'm on my side' but nothing that would mean a call to arms. It was a nice sunny day out and when the family arrived at the zoo, it seemed a lot of other people had the great idea of going there as well. Sirius who took pride in his car took ten minutes to find a place that allowed proper car to car door width. Exiting the vehicle, Amelia gave the two children last warnings 'no funny business or no ice-cream' and they entered the zoo.

Harry spotted an enormous man buying his equally whale like son and what probably was his wife who was very skinny and son's ratty looking friend an Ice-cream at the ice-cream van at the entrance. Nudging his Godfather for his attention, he pointed over at the family with the ice-creams, he made quiet pig noises as he did. Sirius looked where his Godson was pointing and saw the family, he realised who it was and glared slightly before pulling Harry to the side. Sirius waved Amelia and Susan to carry on before kneeling in front of a surprised Harry.

"Harry, you remember me telling you about your real family? The Dursleys?" Harry nodded, confused to where this conversation was going. Sirius looked over his godson's head to see the family head off to the Ape section.

"Well, the family you were making fun off then, was the Dursleys, the large man was your Uncle Vernon, the skinny horse faced woman was your mother's sister your real aunt, Petunia, the whale like boy was your cousin Dudley from what I remember your mother saying…I don't know the other kid, probably Dudley's friend" Sirius said, Harry stared at his Godfather. That was his family? His biological family?

"Merlin above. Thanks for taking me in Sirius, truly..." Harry said pushing his hand through his messy raven locks which floated back into its place covering the scar on his forehead, he pushed his spherical shaped glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Sirius laughed and stood up.

"Come on, lets catch up with the others"

XxxxxxxxxX

A short while later, after going through many sections of the zoo, and many impressions of the animals around them, made by Sirius and Harry, the family arrived at the Reptile House. the heat was intense, Harry started to grin when he entered, Susan noticed this and leaned in to Harry.

"What are they saying?" she asked him, curious to what the snakes said in the glass enclosures, Sirius and Amelia listened to Harry as well.

"They are mostly insulting the visitors; I can't repeat some of the words in English though" Sirius laughed at Harry's answer, Susan giggled.

After looking at a large Iguana Harry looked around the room and spotted a familiar sight of a large blonde haired boy with his friend tapping on one of the glass enclosures. Tugging on Susan's sleeve to get her attention, he pointed at the boys.

"The fat one is my biological cousin and that's his friend" Susan stared at the two boys then a faint look of revulsion appeared on her face.

"I am so sorry about that Harry" Susan said, Harry chuckled and they both wondered a bit closer to listen to what they were saying.

"Wake up! Now!" Dudley said tapping on the glass, Harry looked at the enclosure sign.

 _Boa Constrictor, Brazil_

Harry and Susan were just behind the two boys; he could hear the snake complaining from within the enclosure. Before he could stop her, Susan tapped his cousin on the shoulder.

"Hey you shouldn't do that! It's annoying it!" Susan said, Dudley waddled around and puffed up his chest…. he didn't particularly change size so the effect was lost.

"I don't care, I want it to move, and I'll make it move!" the ratty boy next to Harry's cousin nodded. Susan placed her hands on her hips and scowled. 'uh oh' thought Harry.

"Well it clearly doesn't like it, how would you feel if you were in there and someone was tapping on the glass?!" Susan argued, Harry's cousin stepped forward and pushed Susan to the floor.

"Like I care girly" Dudley replied before waddling back around and leant against the glass, his face plastered against it. Harry was angry, he balled his fists up either side of himself and glared at his cousin. What came next was a surprise for everyone in the reptile house, one second the glass to the enclosure was there, the second it wasn't. Dudley wobbled over the banister before him and his friend leaped back in horror.

The Boa Constrictor had taken its chance at freedom, it slithered up the bannister and fell to the floor; Susan had got herself back up by now and stared wide eyed at the snake, Harry, all his anger vanishing within the second stepped back.

"You've done it now!" Susan whispered furiously. The snake slithered up to Dudley and his friends and coiled around there legs before heading off to the direction of the exit.

" _Brazil here I come, thankssss Amigo!"_ Harry heard the snake shout back. Susan dragged Harry off as his Uncle and Aunt ran wailing to his petrified Cousin and friend.

"Don't tell Auntie" Harry said, a hand clamped down onto his shoulder and he jumped in fright before looking up and seeing the angry face of his Aunt, whilst just behind her was his grinning Godfather who gave him thumbs up.

"Susan did it"

"Hey!"

XxxxxxxxX

Harry sat on his bed the following day, he was grounded until his birthday. Like every time he was grounded, he read. It was something to do and even the he'd hate to admit it; you do learn a lot from reading. His current read was on the history of Transfiguration, that and Charms he seemed to understand quite easily, his Godfather said that his mother and father were extremely proficient in those subjects. Transfiguration was his Fathers forte whilst Charms was his mothers.

Recently he had had his Standard Assessment Tests or SATS for short results mailed him and Susan, these tests were introduced earlier on in the year to all Primary schools in England. Harry didn't want to brag, but he knew he was clever and the results just gave him another way to prove it. Susan would get angry when he brought up the results, she didn't do as well in Mathematics as him, but she didn't mind, unless Harry brought it up.

So reading up on the theory of magic was a great way of getting ahead, since Harry was grounded frequently he already knew quite a bit.

There was a knock on his door.

"Come in!" Sirius poked his head around the door.

"Dinner's ready Pup" Harry looked at his Godfather then at the open book on his lap, he was really into it at the moment and he didn't want to leave.

"Can I have it in here?" he asked, Sirius grinned and picked up a plate from behind the wall, it had chicken wrapped in bacon, a large pile of mashed potato, some green beans, a few carrots, two large homemade Yorkshire Puddings and it was covered in gravy.

"I thought you'd asked that, I told your Aunt that you weren't allowed out of your room" Sirius said placing the plate on his bed and giving Harry the cutlery. Harry dived in.

"What you did yesterday was extremely dangerous Harry" his Godfather said, Harry nodded in shame, he knew he shouldn't have lost his temper like that.

"But at the same time it was bloody hilarious!" Harry coughed on the piece of Yorkshire pudding, his Godfather slapped his back and he coughed it up. He looked at Sirius shocked.

"You what? So I'm not being scolded here?" Sirius shook his head and Harry laughed.

"They deserved it for all I care Pup, but you still need to be careful" Sirius said ruffling his Godsons hair. Harry nodded and speared a carrot onto his fork.

"Not long till your Birthday Harry, any idea what you want?" Harry looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds before a smile creeped onto his face.

"Broom's getting a bit slow now a days Padfoot" Sirius raised an eyebrow and looked at the Comet 260.

"Is it now"

"It is and in the new Quality Quidditch Supplies catalogue there's the new Nimbus, the Nimbus 2000, fastest broom there is" Harry said cutting up his chicken wrapped in bacon. Sirius nodded, putting on a face to show he was mock thinking.

"Is that right? Well if your good then maybe you'll get it" Harry looked up at his plate and gave his Godfather a disgusted look.

"Did you have to say that anymore sweetly?" Sirius barked out a laugh.

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Hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

I dont have an excuse to why I didn't do another chapter sooner, sorry.

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Chapter three – _TAILCOATS AND LETTERS_

Harry looked out of his window and sighed, the summer holidays had now officially started and he was still grounded. Susan made frequent visits to his room to ask if he was alright, which would have been nice of her if she hadn't smiled every time she asked. This was one of the longest-ever punishments he'd had; his longest being when he was eight-years-old, he had completely stuck Susan to her bed using duct tape, somehow not waking her, before doing the same thing to the door, then releasing a lot of spiders he had found from the garden into her room and then climbing out of the window. Susan's screams at three in the morning was the reason for the lengthy punishment as it woke the whole street up. Did Harry ever regret doing it? Absolutely not.

To make things worse, Susan's birthday was three days ago and she was rubbing it in completely by showing off her presents to a caged Harry, who didn't understand how waving some fancy sparkly make up in his face would deem as a worthy way of trying to make him jealous. What made him jealous was the fact Susan had been out shopping for three days now, his Aunt obviously trying to make Harry understand the gravity of what his punishment meant, no spending of the Black millions. Sirius tried to put on a face of pity but he also kept grinning, it was probably his idea to send Susan shopping every day.

There was one person in the whole house who seemed to understand Harry's pain of being grounded and it wasn't even a person, Orion, the Irish Wolfhound had spent every day since Harry being grounded laying on his bed. Only leaving for the occasional walks and meals, Harry loved his dog, well, his and Sirius's. They got Orion whilst still living in the apartment in central London, Sirius being an Animagus which allowed him to understand what the dog wanted helped a bit as well; thus Orion became the most loyal and friendly dog in the British Isles…So Harry and Sirius would say.

Gazing at the opened books around a sleeping Orion, Harry realised that he won't being seeing his Muggle friends much once he went to Hogwarts, which was another reason why being grounded at the moment was annoying; he wanted to spend as much time out of the house and playing with his friends.

Harry knew about the Marauders, Sirius had told him just about everything, maybe leaving some of the more, rude pranks out but he promised he would tell Harry when he was older. When he was thirteen. Sirius's idea. So Harry not wanting to let the Marauder legend die, formed a band of merry men of sorts at his Primary school. They caused quite a mess several hundred times throughout the six years they attended, funnily enough they were only caught a handful of times. Peter Lindsay, a brown haired rosy cheeked boy who always wore a smirk, Harry's closest friend, he helped develop the idea for the prank and he also lived on Rose Drive, number fifteen to be exact. Rosie Hill, a strawberry blonde, very freckly and very intelligent girl, Harry 'dated' a few times; Harry insisted they were boyfriend and girlfriend but at seven-years-old apparently you don't date you just "Like" each other. Rosie collected the resources to do the prank, and finally there was Milan Harris, a tall mixed-race boy who had an eye for detail and always had an idea to make the prank better, Harry and Milan played for the under-eleven's Rugby team as well.

Together the four friends caused chaos, Sirius always wiped a fake tear away when Harry was caught.

"Your father would be so pride!" he would announce before getting a stern lecture from his wife about how he was encouraging these acts, this would all take place in the Headteacher's office. Harry and the Head teacher, Mrs. Donovan, after the sixth time of Harry being caught, became sort of friends, so whenever his Aunt was having a go at his Godfather, Mrs. Donovan would ask Harry how his classes were going and about Rugby as she was an avid fan.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

One day in July, Harry was reading up on the history and uses of Potions and Alchemy when someone knocked on his bedroom door. Orion sat up slightly, before realising it wasn't a threat, so he went back to sleep again.

"Come in!" Harry called not looking up from the book, it was an interesting chapter called _The Twelve uses of Dragon's Blood_ , the book itself _Obscure Potions and Equally Obscure Alchemy_ was a gold mine for knowledge for any person who wanted to become a master in those particular arts, of course it borrowed quite a few sections by other people, but it credited them appropriately at the bottom of each chapter, this chapter had Albus Dumbledore's swirly signature at the bottom. Harry didn't want to become a Potions master, but he saw it in Flourish and Blotts one day, it looked like a good read so he bought it. A clearing of a throat made him look up after putting his bookmark in, it was his sister holding something wrapped in a green plastic bag.

"Whatcha got their sis?" Harry asked, Susan grinned innocently before unwrapping whatever it was from the bag, what it was, was clothes. Laying them out on Harry's bed, after pushing Orion off, who whined and curled up next the bed, Harry saw it was a uniform. The uniform consisted of a maroon tailcoat, orange knickerbockers and a flat straw hat which if Harry remembered was called a boater or something boat-y. Susan smiled.

"Er-"

"It's your new uniform!" Susan said happily, Harry stared at her in confusion.

"Hogwarts doesn't have that uniform? We haven't had our letters yet but I know for sure they don't wear…" Harry waved his hands in the direction of the uniform on his bed.

"Who said it was for Hogwarts?" Susan said in a sing song voice. Harry gaped at her.

"Y'what?!"

"Auntie and Uncle have decided that you aren't going to Hogwarts, from what I remember they said something about, being too naughty and not responsible enough to even have a wand. So they signed you up for another Private school, Smeltings I think Sirius said it was called!" Harry stepped back like he had been struck across the face.

"I-I'm not going to Hogwarts?" he whispered, a part of him was saying that this was all a joke, but the uniform in front of him was proof that it wasn't, was the boa constrictor the last nail in the coffin?

"Nope! Don't worry you still get a stick, just not magical, however the head master and Uncle came to an agreement that you'll get the stick when you get to Smeltings" Harry felt like crying.

"Auntie and Uncle want to see you wearing it, so hurry up and put it on, they're in the living room watching University Challenge." With that Susan skipped out of his room closing the door behind her. Harry sank to his knees, Orion sensing something was wrong padded over to him and licked his cheek. He sighed and stroked Orion's head before picking up the tailcoat, he cringed inwardly at the sight of it.

Ten painfully long minutes later, Harry trudged down the stairs wearing the uniform, grumbling to himself he got to the living room door and took a deep breath. The knickerbockers itched around his thighs.

Opening the door, he wore a mask of stone, everyone turned from the T.V to look at Harry. He first looked at Susan, who had the obvious smirking look, to his Aunt who looked like she had just seen something very cute, and then to his Godfather, who was slowly turning red in the face.

"Aww sweetie, you look very handsome and grown-up, doesn't he look handsome Sirius?" his Aunt gushed, Sirius just nodded very quickly his face was turning slightly blue.

"Yep" he croaked out, Harry glared at his Godfather in anger.

"Go on then, you look like you are going to pop if you don't laugh, let it out man" Sirius shook his head, Susan giggled.

"Hey Harry" a new voice said from his left, snapping his head to see who it was, all he saw was the black lens of a camera then a bright flash. Harry stood there gaping like a fish as his Uncle-in-a-but-blood, Remus Lupin, as he lowered the camera. This seemed to be the tipping point for his Godfather as he burst out laughing.

"Oh Merlin, the look on your face!" Sirius said in between guffaws, this then set off his Aunt and his sister. Harry just glared at his Uncle who was now wafting a polaroid in the air whilst grinning widely.

"You...you…"

"…and Sirius, don't forget your Godfather, he planned this" Remus said handing Sirius the camera and the picture, which then set him off again. Remus sat down in the second sofa and took a sip of his beer.

"Did you really think we wouldn't allow you to go to Hogwarts dear?" his aunt asked, Harry red with embarrassment nodded. She chuckled and shook her head.

"Alright dear, you can laugh later, give him his letter" That snapped Harry out of his anger, his letter?! Sirius put his hand down the back of a sofa cushion and brought out a cream coloured letter and gave it to Harry who looked down, his heart now racing. On the back was green ink in the address:

Mr H. Potter

7 Rose Drive

Ealing

London

Harry turned the letter over and saw the wax seal of Hogwarts, a lion, a snake, an eagle and a badger encompassing a large letter H. With shaky hands and not caring about his Godfather still chuckling and commenting about the polaroid of him in the vile uniform he broke the wax and pulled out the letter and read:

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF**

 **WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31st July.

Yours Sincerely,

 _Minerva McGonagall_

Deputy Headmistress

Without missing a beat, Harry dashed into the kitchen, he grabbed some pen and paper from the sideboard and started to think of a reply. A while later, twelve sheets of paper and one straw hat with now many holes in it, Harry threw the thirteenth reply in a ball to the floor and groaned, Sirius walked in with a raised eyebrow.

"You alright their Pup, you've been in here for half an hour, you ran out before any of us could say anything?" Sirius asked staring at the crumpled pieces of paper that littered the floor around the table, Harry looked up from the fourteenth try.

"I'm trying to write a reply to my Hogwarts letter!" Harry said like it was blatantly obvious, Sirius looking confused leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? July 31st is two days away and I need to send them a reply saying I will go!" Harry exclaimed before stabbing the hat again.

"There isn't any point you know" Sirius said his face blank, Harry looked up at him in confusion.

"No point?"

"Yeah, there's no point you writing the reply" Harry stared at his Godfather, who was now sipping on a cold bottle of beer he just got from the fridge.

"Er-why not?"

"Cos your Aunt has already sent one off for both you and Susan" he said before taking another swig of the drink, looking not concerned at all that his Godson now looked like he had just told him some horrifying news.

"I've been sat here for half an hour trying to come up with a reply to the letter when in fact my Aunt has already sent one?!"

"Yep"

"Did you think at all, in that half an hour to tell me that?"

"Yes, now" Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"When did she send a reply?"

"Whose she?" Harry let out a frustrated sound

"When did MY AUNT send a reply?"

"About fifteen minutes after she got the letters"

"And when did she get the letters?"

"When Moony arrived, he brought them by the way" Harry looked into the living room to see his uncle gazing at the television before looking back at Sirius with raised eyebrows.

"When DID Moony arrive?"

"About three hours ago" Harry banged his head on the table.

* * *

Hope you liked it, I thought i would follow the chapter order completely but i realised I didn't need a massive gap as his Uncle Vernon doesn't start destroying his letters and them moving around so he gets the letter when he supposed to.


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